Fluid pressure systems are well known and commonly used in industry, and they exist in arrangements for utilizing gas and liquid as the fluid. It is particularly common to have a hydraulic system wherein there is a plurality of hydraulic pumps, valves, and cylinder assemblies or motors. One such prior art arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,499 which discloses a dual pump supplying two valves which in turn operate a plurality of hydraulic cylinder assemblies. However, the prior art is limited in its versatility and applications in that it does not have an arrangement including two or more pumps supplying fluid to a plurality of valves, either respectively or to only one of the valves, and with the valves in turn having fluid-responsive units, such as hydraulic cylinder assemblies or motors, operated by the valves. That is, the prior art does not provide for a system wherein all the pumps can supply pressure to only one fluid-responsive unit or motor nor can it be arranged to supply pressure to respective fluid-responsive units or motors. Accordingly, this is a primary advantage and objective of the present invention.
The present invention also provides a fluid pressure system utilizing a plurality of pumps, valves, and fluid-pressure responsive units in an arrangement wherein all sections of the system can operate independent of each other, or the several sections can be combined to have the combined output of all the pumps directed to one fluid-pressure responsive unit. Still further, the present invention accomplishes the aforementioned advantages and objectives in a simplified manner of arranging the elements, and with a minimal number of elements involved in this system.
Still further, the present invention provides a fluid pressure system wherein there is low neutral pressure drop, and there is also the accomplishment of slow or fast function speeds for operating the various fluid-pressure responsive units connected in the system. This advantage and objective is accomplished by being able to direct the output of the several pumps to respective fluid responsive units or to direct the combined output of all of the pumps to one of the fluid-pressure responsive units, and thereby create the multiple speed or different speed for the functioning of the fluid-pressure responsive units, such as hydraulic cylinders or motors.